Zadie Smith Overview

Zadie Smith is a British novelist and essayist. A 1997 graduate of Cambridge, Smith began her writing career in the late 1990s, publishing her first novel, 'White Teeth,' in 2000. Acclaimed by critics, 'White Teeth,' a look at London from three... [more]

Zadie Smith is a British novelist and essayist. A 1997 graduate of Cambridge, Smith began her writing career in the late 1990s, publishing her first novel, 'White Teeth,' in 2000. Acclaimed by critics, 'White Teeth,' a look at London from three characters' culturally divergent perspectives, won the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Smith's second novel, 'Autograph Man' (2002), won the 2003 Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize and, also in 2003, Smith was named one of Granta's 'Best of Young British Novelists.' 'On Beauty' (2005), Smith's third novel, liberally re-imagined EM Forster's 'Howard's End,' pitting two academic families against one another and questioning whether a search for identity can lead to anything but confusion. Smith has also edited 'The Book of Other,' a collection for which writers including Miranda July and A.M. Homes were simply assigned to "make somebody up." Smith has taught at Harvard and Columbia. She will be joining NYU's faculty in 2010. [show less]